Monday, January 7, 2013

My Mate Joan

I had hooked up with Joan on the internet a few years ago and we finally got to meet at Rootstech in 2011. From that meeting grew the idea of putting together a panel presentation for Rootstech in 2012. Joan worked on this with myself, Amy Coffin and Audrey Collins until just after Christmas 2011 when she wrote "I've been having health issues and there is a good chance I won't be able to attend Rootstech."

Today I am remembering Joan and being grateful for her friendship, support and encouragement. Among other things Joan was passionate about the Genealogists for Families Team on Kiva where she was co-captain with Australian, Judy Webster. A number of genealogists have asked on various social media today how they can commemorate Joan. Joan's daughter Heather has asked that commemorative loans or donations in memory of her mother should be made through Kiva and the 'Genealogists for Families' project. Details on how this can be accomplished can be found on this Genfamilies blog post.I chose to make a loan to a farmer in Kenya to help him to buy piglets as Joan had recently made a loan to another farmer to allow him to buy pigs.

3 comments:

I am so very sorry to learn of the passing of your friend Joan. Such a great loss for her family and her friends, as well as for those of us in the genealogy and family history community. Thank you for letting us know about Kiva, and the ways in which we may commemorate Joan's life.